[NLRS] Rovermania II 6/24/05 Update (multi-op?)

[tosca005]

On 26 Jun 2005, W0ZQ at aol.com wrote:
> 
> 
> In a message dated 6/26/2005 8:41:45 A.M. Central Standard Time,  
> N0HJZ at aol.com writes:
> 1) So far I only have one other person who is  interested in a multi-op. 
I 
> know that Brent, KD5EMB, and I could run a  multi-op, but it would be
better 
> to have a few more people to help.   We've only got equipment for 222 &
432 
> right now and an offer for some  3456 gear.  Anyone else interested?!
> 

Hmmm... I could have sworn that I expressed an interest in a multi-op for
the August UHF contest.  I could bring the following to the party:

222: transverter, IF rig, 110 watt amp, 222-5WL antenna

432: FT-847, 100 watt amp, 432-9WL antenna (or a stacked pair of them, but
      one of them is still unassembled in the box -- I do have the phasing
      harness and the 2-port divider to go with that)

902: transverter, IF rig, 33 element loop yagi, currently no add-on
amplifier
      integrated, but I have one each of the N0KP 70 watt and 120 watt
amps,
      and a 24 VDC power supply (actually, 0-30VDC @ 0-20 amps), but I need
to
      do the simple mods to the amps, and arrange to attenuate the 902 RF
      output to avoid overdriving the amps (3 or 6 watts in instead of 15
      being output from the transverter), and the 120 watt amp wants 22
amps
      at 24V, so I would have to under-drive it a bit more to limit current
      consumption to 20 amps and the output to maybe 100 watts.

1296: transverter, IF rig (shared with 902) pre-amp, 36 watt amp, 45
element
      loop yagi.

2304: transverter, 15 watt (or more, I forget) amplifier, 76 element loop
yagi.
      This system is about 2 years old but has never had power or RF
applied
      to it since I bought it from DEMI because I never got around to
modifying
      my IF interface so that one radio could run 902, 1296, and 2304.  I
do
      plan to have that going by August, but I've been wrong before.

10368: setup used for last year's 10G & Up Cumulative Contest, 2 watt.

Misc: 
 -- radios and antennas for 6M and 2M if anyone felt that these would
      be used for liasion or whatever -- the radio would also have HF
      capability, but all I could provide for HF antennas would be four
      verticals (3 Hamsticks plus a Comet) mounted on the roof of my SUV,
      that would cover 10, 12, 15, 17, 20, 30, and 40 M with an automatic
      antenna tuner and no switching -- pick a band and go.
 -- 13.8 VDC power supply @ 70 amps, and another at 30 amps
 -- Rig Runner (PowerPole distribution block)
 -- one set of CW paddles
 -- one MFJ memory keyer (also has a keyboard interface so you can send
      "perfect CW" if you can type on a computer keyboard -- it has been a
      bit flaky recently, but I think I can fix that by putting an opto-
      isolater between the radio and the keyer, and if I do that, I can
also
      make a switch box that would allow the one set of paddles and keyer
to
      run either the FT-847 or the IC-706 that will be the new IF rig for
      902 & up.
 -- one antenna rotator (Yaesu, medium-duty, 450 degree rotation)
 -- one or two laptop computers for logging etc.

What I **CANNOT** provide includes:
 -- any sort of shelter better than a tent, and that hasn't been out of the
      box in so many years that I can't even say for sure that it is still
      usable.
 -- any sort of antenna towers
 -- a generator
 -- enough feedline for any reasonably-high antenna array, though I would
be
      willing to buy more coax & connectors, and fabricate the necessary
      feedlines if I knew how long they needed to be

What else I would need to consider doing this:
 -- a site
 -- other operators to assist, and the more experienced the better
 -- help hauling that stuff to and from the site  (I brought much of that
      stuff out to a farm field in Rosemouont for the June 'test a few
years
      ago for a multi-op, and it was an extreme pain in the @$$ to haul
      everything myself), and **lots** of help setting up and tearing down.

Buck Hill sounds appealing because it has worked before, might be available
(I see that others are checking on this), and it is convenient for me to
get to.

Matt had ruminated about the desirability of setting up shop somewhere near
Rochester MN.  I don't know if he has a particular place in mind or how
easy it would be to get it, but I'd certainly be willing to drive down that
way, since the St. Charles grid corner has been one of my rover stops. 
That way we'd be out of the immediate vicinity of any SOLP and SOHP
stations in the metro area, and might be able to be a more popular grid
than "just another station in EN34".  We might also be better able to
attract some attention from the southeast, and while they're pointing at
us, they'd also be pretty close to pointing at the Twin Cities for the
stations here.  Just some random thoughts on my part.

P.S., I am out of town the last week in July, which pretty much guarantees
that my vacation time won't get cut short that week, and I also have
vacation for the following week (August 1-5, the week that immediately
precedes the contest weekend), so I **SHOULD** be able to prepare for the
contest that whole week without worrying about getting called in to work
unexpectedly.

P.P.S., I am quite worn out from bringing out the VHF/UHF/Satellite station
to Field Day this year and operating it for 23 of the 24 hours of the
contest, even though it included "only" 3 bands and one radio and no
transverters etc.  So I must be nuts to volunteer for an even more
ambitious gig, but then I *DID* have a whole lot of fun last weekend...

73 de W0JT